I Like You A Latte
by pekkii
Summary: Bella: a angry impatient barista, who hates he job and her boss Edward: an impatient, angry barrister who thrives on the power his job offers. Tired of the same sad excuse for coffee, Edward heads to Piccolo, where he goes on to piss of the wrong barista. All Bella wants to do is leave on time, but Edward is determined to make it as hard for her as possible as often as possible..
1. Espresso Yourself

'Hi, can I get a regular half skim, half full fat latte? But made with half decaf half regular coffee, half strength? Also, can you heat the milk to 100 degrees, with less froth and two and a half sugars?"

My response to this complex order was to simply blink slowly at the woman ordering this absurd coffee. Did she realize that some of her order canceled each other out? But, as I was constantly reminded by my lovely boss Alec (who we dubbed Kumar, don't ask!) I simply smiled in response, and using my best retail voice, which I was told sounds both overly polite and semi-patronizing, agreed to make her abomination of a coffee. But got help her if she decided to complain...

"That'll be $4.60 thanks."

"No problem.' Dumb bitch responded, while handing over a large chunk of change, literally ALL coins, that she proceeded to place on the counter between us, instead of my outstretched hand. She ten proceeded to walk off, complaining about the ever inflating price of coffee.

"Which order are you up to?" I ask Jake, who I could practically kiss due to the fact that he is probably one of the best workers here, apart from me of course.

"This one." He says pointing to a very pointless sugar free vanilla latte that has five sugars in it.

"What's with this order?"

He of course is talking about what dumb bitch just ordered.

"Just make it." I say rolling my eyes, and continuing to make the shots.

Just as Jake is carefully pouring the 100 degree milk into the cup of amazingly stupid coffee, dumb bitch walks up to the counter complaining that it took too long, and it wasn't made to her exact specifications. Its 8 in the morning, and I can't deal with this right now. You know what else I cant deal with? My boss's reaction to this.

"Don't worry, I make a new one. They no know what they doing." He really does speak like that...he also can't tell the difference between a flat white and a cappuccino, but WHAT DO I KNOW!

When she finally gets her drink, she leaves, but not before yelling that she'll never be back. Then proceeds to walk around telling customers that our shop is the worst around.

This, my friends is a typical day at _Piccollo_ (Italian for little by the way...). Rude customers, busy periods and an overbearing boss who makes shift that much more pleasant (insert sarcasm here.)


	2. Espresso Depresso

"Thank god it's Friday!" I practically yell. You can't blame me though, Jake loves his old skool R&B and Hip Hop, so I need to yell to be heard over Biggy.

"And what are your plans for tonight?" He yells back, furiously scrubbing at the machine, which he knows that I'll probably just end up cleaning again when his back is turned.

"Big plans! Huge! Some pizza and trashy reality television. And stop judging me, I can feel it!"

He snickers. "No judgment. I think it's doing more harm that good. We both know you're not that bright, and all that monotone dribble and fabricated drama can't be good for your brain cells."

"Oh sorry! I forgot that you're so much brighter than me degree!" I was only half joking. The little bugger did always think he knew better...

His response was to just sing along to Biggy, while purposely making a mess. And he knew how I felt about messes. I threw a towel at him, and told him to clean properly or hed have to lick his mess up, which resulted in a whole lot of laughter and a slew of 'that's what she said' jokes, because we're both apparently 12 year old boys. For reference, I'm 23. I should know better.

"Well I'm glad you find that amusing, but can I get some service? I've been standing here for a while being ignore while the two of you trade penis jokes."

That immediately stopped my laughter. I looked at the perpetrator who would dare to be so rude and gave him my best death stare. He responded with something between a frown and a conceited stupid smug face. He was gorgeous, but very rude. Not a good combination. But his face was pretty at least. It gave me an excuse to extend the glare.

To diffuse the situation, and because Jake knew how I felt about late customers, he joked with the spawn of statan's asshole and complemented his choice of tie. Two words, suck up. Just as Jake was preparing the holy one's coffee, the phone rang, alerting us to the fact that Kumar wanted to know how his kingdom was running. Some people call this espresso bar _Piccolos_ some, but in reality just me, call it Kumar's Kingdom. Gotta love that alliteration.

Which left making Smug McSmugserson his coffee. I was pouring the shots into the cup when I was distracted, and to be honest, scared by his choice to start a conversation. Which resulted in my spilling the hot, hot shots all over my hand.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled, pathetically cradelling my hand. Instead of putting in under water. Like I said, not that bright.

The asshole on the other hand proceeded to laugh. "You should probably put that underwater sweetcheecks."

"Glad you find my third degree burns hilarious!"

He continued to laugh while Jake, ever the situation diffuser, continued to make the coffee, even laughing along that the stupid barista and her 'third degree burns'.

"There's your coffee man, enjoy. Have a good night!' Jake said, handing the asshole his coffee.

"Thanks you too." He responded. He then turned to me.

"Take care of that burn sweetheart." He joked, and walked away laughing. I wanted to punch him in his gorgeous, gorgeous face. I turn to Jake who is practically holding back tears.

"Glad you find this hilarious! Look at the burn!"

"Calm down Bella, you'll be okay, its not even that bad. Stop being a princess."

I couldn't even justify that with a response. So as his punishment, I made him sweep and mop the dining area. One of the perks of being a employee of Kumar's Kingdom for the last five years. I know, I know, kinda pathetic.

We were finally done closing shop, but I was not done complaining about his royal turdness.

"I mean, who does that! I burnt myself."

"Okay, two things Bells. One, calm down it was pretty funny, but I'm sorry you hurt yourself. And two, you need to let things go."

"NEVER! I am the queen of holding hope for his sake, he never comes around here again!"

Of course, that the exact time Royal Turdness walks past the shop, looking at me and laughing.

"Have a good night princess!"

It's all I can do to not throw my salted caramel latte at him. And don't judge my drink, I know I'm a basic white girl.


	3. Whole Latte Trouble

We're busy. We have a full board of orders, and a huge queue lining up outside the doors to _Picollo._ I'm tired, and while working with the managers nephew, Caius, has its benefits, working with the new girl who thinks she's a qualified barista on day two of her job is not helping.

"Hey Bella, can you come here for a sec?" I hear Jessica whine from the other side of the shop. With a huff, and a few choice words repeated like a mantra silently to myself, I wonder over to her.

"Yeah?" I say, seriously not in the mood for this.

"How do you put a card through?"

Seriously?! I know that I should be more patient with her, but I literally showed her how to do this twenty minutes ago. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I show her how to do it, then make my way back down to making orders

Once the shop has slowed down, I take the last order on the board out to the customer. Instead of being nice, and saying thank you, like a decent human being would, the little old lady responds with a long, drawn out rant on how she thought she would never get her coffee because the service is slow to non-existent. I know it shouldn't bother me, I've heard it all before, but we were busy, I was working with Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and there was no way to get her order out faster (even though a 10 minute wait during rush hour isn't so bad).

I simply give her a terse smile and tell her to enjoy her drink, as opposed to saying what I really wanted to.

"Want to take a break?" Caius asks, as I make my way back behind the counter.

"Not yet. You can you on a smoke break if you want. Feel like another coffee?"

He simply smiles. "I'd love that, thanks Bells." Glad to know that he appreciates me, even if none of the customers do.

I begin to clean up after the rush, because a cluttered workspace equals a cluttered mind, and decide to send Jessica on her break. Not a moment too soon, as I see her trying to put the wrong ingredients together to make extra whipped cream. With a sigh, I make my way over to her and tell her to go. All my best work is done alone anyway.

Just as I make my way to the storeroom to clear out and cut up empty boxes in the back, I feel a customer behind me. Grumbling, I turn around and who else would be there but conceited ass from last Friday. Because my day just needed to get worse!

"Hello there sweet cheeks."

"Can you not?"

"Scuse me?"

"Can you not call me sweet cheeks? I have a name. Plus, its kinda condescending." As angry as I get at work, I normally don't talk to customers like this, but this guy somehow manages to bring out my inner bitch. And I hardly even know him.

I look at up him and notice him staring at my chest. I click in front of his face to get his attention.

"Hey buddy, eyes up here"

He simply laughs.

"Don't flatter yourself. I was merely looking at your name tag...Bella."

I choose to ignore his comment, the smug ass.

"What would you like?"

He studies to board for a second.

"I feel like something different. What do you recommend?"

I hate when customers do this. Why should I make the decision for them?

"Why not a short black? It's a pretentious drink, much like yourself I believe."

He simply shrugs off my comment. He either hears it a lot, or just has really thick skin and is immune to insults. Me thinks that latter.

"Eh, why not. Make it a double shot with a little bit of milk."

Again, I don't get why people do this. That's called a macchiato. Just call it a macchiato. It's like when people ask for a latte with caramel...

"Fine. Is that all?"

He nods. And then proceeds to answer a phone call.

"$4.00"

He nods, continuing to talk on the phone while handing me change.

I walk away, preparing his drink when he joins be at the barista bar.

"Busy day?"

"Kind of. Customers are being particularly difficult today."

"Do you get off soon?" The immature 14 year old boy in me represses a snicker.

"I finish at 12"

"When's your next shift?"

I look up from frothing my milk and give him a quizzical look. Customers aren't usually this chatty, nor do they care about rostering.

"Friday night. You know, the same night you showed up two minutes before we closed, demanding to be served after we ignored you." I put air quotes around ignored.

"Sorry about that. Maybe I can make that up to you?"

"Um, how?"

I hand him his drink.

He simply slides a slim white card across the table towards me, and then walks off.

I contemplate throwing the card away, but in the end curiosity wins instead. Surprise, surprise, it's his business card. I'm sure he's used to a plethora of women swooning over him and calling him instantaneously. So I do something that he wouldn't expect. I toss it out. Never hearing from me buddy.


	4. The Daily Grind

Life is best when I get to open. Those few glorious minutes where you get to set up shop, carefully running the shots through the machine to clean it and prepare it for the day ahead, playing whatever music you want without whiney customers coming up to you to complain (true story, we had a little kid who was so very clearly sent by his mother to tell us that the music was inappropriate. To be fair, it was 50 cent playing. But they did have the choice to leave if they were offended...)

I was humming along to old school RnB (from the 2000's, God I'm old!) and opening the doors to the cafe, when who should I see casually leaning against his car but my good mate . I sigh and roll my eyes. I know that that's not a very mature response, but this guy is annoying, kinda conceited and bordering on stalker status. But it was hard not to stare and notice him when he looked the way he did. He was probably the most gorgeous (and sane) person who had hit on me (or is this flirtation all in my head?)

"Well hello there, my favorite barista. How are you this morning?" He asks, walking over to hold the door open for me while I walk back into the café. Is it creepy to say that he smelt good too? Like a rich man would. Granted, I don't know what one would smell like, but it was all musky and masculine. I shook my head, trying to snap myself out of this weird trance like, obsessive state that had consumed me.

"If I see her I'll ask."

This quip resulted in one of his (what seems to be) signature smirks.

"So she's funny in the mornings, good to know."

"She would also like to take your order so she can get her work done." I retorted.

"Jobs? It's a café, what type of jobs would you need to do?"

I glare at him. He did not just ask me that! This isn't the first time a comment like this has been spoken, and it certainly won't be the last. But do people really find it that difficult to comprehend that there's more to working at a cafe than just making the damn coffee?!

"Well, while my job may not be as prestigious as yours, I am still a student trying to support herself. As for what jobs I have to do here, there's a whole list of jobs that include filling up the powers, syrups and food, restocking the cups cupboards, cleaning dishes, need I go on?"

He put his hand up to stop me. I simply slapped it back down.

"If you're going to continue to insult me, feel free to leave. If you want your coffee, be nice to your barista and just order the damn coffee already."

"I bet that mouth gets you in a whole lot of trouble huh?"

I continue to glare at him. It seriously has no effect. How and why? I've patented the glare to get people to do things for me. How is he immune?

Instead of waiting for me to answer, he orders his coffee, a flat white which is just as dull as he is. He pays and walks over to the barista bar to await his coffee.

"So you're a student. What are you studying?"

"I'm sorry, but do you have a split personality or something? You've gone from insulting me to wanted to ask me questions about myself."

"Just getting to know my barista. I like to really get to know the person who's going to be making my coffees."

"I bet you say that to all the baristas."

He laughs.

"I suppose you could say that."

I finish pouring the steaming milk into his cup, put a lid on it and hand it over.

"So I never did get a call back from you."

I shrug. "Yeah, I never really call strange men who hand me their business cards with their numbers on it at work."

"So this happened quite frequently.

I decide to mess with him a little bit. The truth is, I've been told by various co-workers that I give off an 'angry and unapproachable vibe, so I'm pretty sure that why the cliche finding your significant other while working at a café hasn't happened to me yet. That, or I'm just not as gorgeous as the other girls here, which I'm fine with. I want a career, not a man just yet.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

He looks me up and down, causing a blush to appear. I never did well under intense scrutiny or when people compliment me. It kinda makes me feel uncomfortable and my natural reaction to that is to blush. I know, I know, I'm special.

"You're lying. Men would be insane not to find you attractive."

Another reaction to compliments is to respond with snarky comments. Not very ladylike or polite, but I can't seem to help it.

"Well then they must be crazy!"

Another customer walks up to the counter, and only then do I realise just how close we've been talking to one another. Which is weird because I love my personal space and hate it when people enter mine uninvited.

"I'll seen you later."

I shift back into my professional retail mode. Using my best retail voice (read; insincere voice) tell him to have a nice day.

Still realised that I never did get his name, and I've been serving him coffee for the better part of a week. I then remind myself that I don't care and hope to never see him again. The other part of me that's curious hopes he comes back. Just for the banter of course. I am in no way, shape of form attracted to that beautiful, beautiful man


	5. Affogato About It

I'm crouched down on hand and knees (insert really immature pun here) refilling the milk fridge while Jake hands me the bottles. I take this job very seriously. It's a complicated process of first in first out. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm taking the time and effort to do it properly because the last time I did it incorrectly, I had to write my manager an essay via text apologising for the vast quantity of milk that had to be thrown out as it has passed its expiry date. Even though seventeen other people work here, I was the only one to blame. Lesson learnt, (even though it was never my fault) do it properly.

"Hey Jake, no more will fit, it's too full."

He snickered. "That's what she said!"

I had to give him that. It was impeccable timing and I didn't even realise I had said that. Let me give you some context. As long as I can remember, Jake and I have bonded over our similar sense of humor (ready: stupid guy humor filled with innuendos. He had an excuse, he was only 19. I should know better, I'm 23) We've been keeping these 'that's what she said' jokes up for quite some time, with the main mission being to one-up one another. So far, I think I'm winning.

I laughed along with him, gaining weird looks from the customers who were no doubt having a mental sook that we were neglecting their orders. Little did they know that there was a direct correlation between a happy barista and the quality of coffee. It's a proven scientific correlation. Don't believe me? Look it up!

I saw a customer approaching and decided that that was the perfect time to go on break. This woman was horrible with a capital B (for bitch, naturally). She always made an effort to let you know that her coffee was discounted because she worked in the shopping center, that she always wanted it boiling hot and not too much froth. She would then lift the cup to weigh it herself, deem it acceptable and then walk off. I didn't like her at all!

I walked off, earning a glare from Jake, and sat down on one of the couches in the corner, away from everyone and everything. I just wanted to enjoy my coffee and my croissant for half an hour before I had to go back to serving people who though they were better than me because I was a barista.

Just as I was about to take a very well deserved sip of my coffee, who else would show up but my good mate. . (note to self; must learn his name. So I can insult him accurately you see) He stood behind the couch that was in front of me, almost seeming to be waiting for me to invite him to sit down. Well bad luck buddy, you can stand!

"I'm on break. If you want something, you're more than welcome to ask my colleague." I said, pointing to the general direction where Jake was currently getting yelled at because the milk was tepid and the coffee to light.

"I just came to see if my favorite barista was working today."

I rolled my eyes. "You know it." I said, turning my attention back to my coffee and food, in the universal sign to let him know to leave. He didn't seem to get the hint. Instead, he sat down, folding one leg over the other and getting comfortable.

"Do you ever work?" I wanted to smack myself. See, I have no verbal filter, so I am usually saying the wrong things at the wrong times constantly. And if I wasn't doing that, I was making jokes akin to something my mother would say.

"Sorry?"

"No I'm sorry. What I meant was that you spend an awful lot of time here and away from what I would presume your office, judging by your suit."

"I'm my own boss. And as such, I can usually leave any time I want to. Since we're being so candid with each other, you seeing someone at the moment?"

I was kinda left stupefied by his question. Why was he seeming to be pursuing a young, broke barista/student? He looked like the type of guy who would be constantly surrounded by models.

"No?"

"Is that a question or a statement? I thought you were a smart girl Bella."

"No. I'm not. I'm also choosing to ignore you questioning my intelligence. Andy why does it matter to you?" I asked him. I looked over to Jake, asking him to help me. He simply responded by looking at and giving me a thumbs up. Some help he is. Next time that wrinkly old lady who works at the chemist flashed her boobs at him and calls him gorgeous, I'll be no help whatsoever.

"Just trying to get to the bottom of why I never heard from you."

"You sound like a desperate teenage girl Mr..."

"No Mr, too formal. I'm Edward." He said, holding out his hand. I placed it in his, thinking that he was going to shake it. Instead, he invaded my personal space (and my constant need to cleanliness and impeccable personal hygiene) and kissed the back of my hand. Part of me was grossed out because, hello germs! But the other half was...flattered? Because he was kissing my hand. (also, how antiquated does that sound?!"

"Let's start again. Here's my card, feel free to reach out."

He handed my his card once again.

"Have a good day."

And then he walked out. I went back behind the counter to help Jake out (there was only so long I could avoid going back to work.)

"Wasn't that ?"

"Yeah."

"And? What did he want? You two were looking all sorts of cozy over there." He said, nudging my shoulder. I think he just wanted to razz me for a bit. Because lord knows that I'm constantly doing that to him. Between the three girls we work with who I knew for a fact were obsessed with him to the customer who constantly calls him gorgeous, how could I not pick on him? So I decided to steal one of his favorite lines to use on him.

I shrugged and responded, "I can't help that I'm so gorgeous and irresistible. Is that what you wanted to hear? Now get back to work you big slacker!"


	6. Stay Grounded

**A/N: Hi! *waves* I feel like chapter 6 is as good as any time to say hello! If you're new here, welcome and feel free to check out (and support, naturally) my other stories. If you've read my other stuff, (and gotten over the frustration surrounding my inability to complete a story) hope you're enjoying this story so far.**

 **Also, round of applause to anyone that can guess which parts of Bella's customer service nightmares are true and which are embellished (I'm a barista too, and have had quite a few of these experiences myself...FUN!)**

 **Anyway...onto the story!**

 _I love 9am classes, I love 9am classes, I LOVE THEM!_

I had to repeat this mantra over and over a few times to myself to psyche myself up for my 9am, two hour lecture, followed by an one hour tutorial, both conducted by a monotone moron, who had no idea what he was talking about, and refused to even teach during the tutorial. I also had to constantly remind myself that this was my last semester before graduation, so I needed to pass this class.

What was not helping my current sunny outlook on life at 8.15am was the fact that there was already a queue of students lined up at my favorite coffee shop. The little Chinese man and his family that owned it were gorgeous, and it wasn't their fault that I had to wait, I just had no patience this early in the morning.

"Good morning Bella!" The owned greeted me with a big smile. What a wonderful, wonderful man.

"Good morning! How are you?" I responded. I should also be ashamed of myself that after three years at the same coffee shop, I didn't make the effort to learn his name. I knew that he made good coffee though, so I'm sure I could be forgiven.

"Good." Was his response, and then returned to finish up the coffees.

While I patiently waited for my coffee, I pulled out my phone to peruse Instagram, the best way to pass the time. Well look at that, Jake looked like he had a great time at his niece's 10th birthday. Please note the sarcasm, he looked like he wanted to die of boredom. Serves him right for all the times he left me to deal with the picky customers...

"Fancy meeting you here gorgeous."

I looked up from my screen, and came face to face with...Edward? Was he stalking me now?

"Hi?"

He smirked. "That's all I get?"

"Sorry, its early, I'm not caffeinated and I'm very confused as to why you're at a university campus. Are you one of those creepy mature age students? It's cool if you are, more power to you, it's just that it's a little odd that they like being surrounded by younger people..." I trailed off, finally realising how stupid I sounded. Stupid mental filter not kicking in! What's the point of being tertiary educated if I was going to sound like a moron anyway. No one would believe that I was 10 weeks away from graduating.

"You done rambling?"

"I'm not! It's a lack of coffee!"

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

I walked away from him and sat down at one of the empty tables. I pulled out my laptop and loaded a couple of videos I wanted to check out before class started. I was in the midst of bashing my keyboard, because my computer wouldn't load the damn video, when I saw Edward sit across from me. He started saying something, but I had my earphones in.

He leaned in closer and...oh my god! Was he about to kiss me? Here? In a university café? But alas, he was just pulling my earphones out. Damn.

"In answer to your question, I'm here to give a guest lecture. Good enough reason to be here Bella?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

He looked me over for a second. Was he checking me out? Or did I have a stain on my clothes? Or worse yet, my face? Actually why did I care, I didn't like him...right?

"Have lunch with me."

I set my coffee cup down and pointed at him. "That's a tiny bit presumptuous. How do you know I don't have other lunch plans?"

"Scuse me Bella. If you have no other terribly important lunch plans, would you like to join me?"

"Um..."

"Hey Bella!" I looked over to who interrupted our conversation. And only then did I realise how close we were leaning into each other.

"Hi Jess! Ready for class?" I asked standing up and packing my stuff back into my bag.

"Sure. And who's this?"

"Edward."

She looked him over. Cool, she could have him.

"Let's go Jess!" I said, tugging her arm to get her moving. I was probably going to continue saying stupid things to Edward.

"Nice to meet you!" Jess practically yelled, as we walked out.

"Where's the fire Bells? Apart from in your pants." She asked.

"Ha, ha, ha, you're HIGHLARIOUS! He's a customer that's been hitting on me, I think?"

"And why haven't you done anything about it?"

"Cause I'm poor and a student, and he walks around in suits that probably costs more than a semester's tuition."

"He hot, you're hot, just get together already!

I rolled my eyes at Jess. Of course that would be her answer. It seemed simple enough though. Two people with a shared interest in each other hang out to know each other better. So why was I putting this off?

My internal monologue was interrupted by my lecturer walking into the room. Oh, joy! Two hours of his voice.

"Okay class, settle down. Today we have a guest lecturer. He was the account director for several years at Ogilvy's, only to move on to start his own marketing agency. Please make him feel welcome, Edward Cullen!"

There was a smattering of polite applause, as we walked behind the podium and set up his slides. Just as he was about to start speaking, we made eye contact, and he smiled at me. I tried to seem unfazed, but I had to admit, the attention was nice...

He then gave his lecture, talking a bit about his background, education, his time at Ogilvy's as well as his current agency. He then launched into talking about the academics of marketing, and I have to admit that it was probably the only lecture I paid full attention to. It would also seem that every other girl in the lecture theatre thought so too.

After the lecture ended, all the students seemed to flock to him, asking his questions and him handing out his business cards.

"You coming to lunch Bells?" Jess asked, as she was packing up her bag.

"I might stay back to talk to him. You know, ask him about marketing...stuff." I wanted to smack myself. Marketing stuff? Way to sell the fact that you're in your last year!

"Marketing stuff? Sure..." Jess trailed off as she walked out of the room.

"See you later!"

"Bella, what can I do for you?" Edward asked, once the crowd cleared and I was face to face with him again.

"How do you feel about lunch?

He smirked. "What happened to your very important, other lunch plans?

"They can wait."

"Well in that case, what do you feel like?"


End file.
